Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (German pronunciation: [ˈʔʊʁzula fɔn deːɐ̯ ˈlaɪən] (About this soundlisten); née Albrecht; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician and the President-elect of the European Commission. She served in the federal government of Germany from 2005 to 2019 as the longest-serving member of Angela Merkel's cabinet. She is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
She was born and raised in Brussels, where her father Ernst Albrecht was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French, and is of German and British American descent. She moved to Hanover in 1971, when her father entered politics to become Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating as a physician from the Hanover Medical School in 1987, she specialized in women's health. In 1986 she married fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen of the noble von der Leyen family of silk merchants. As a mother of seven children, she was a housewife during parts of the 1990s and lived for four years in Stanford, California, while her husband was on faculty at Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.
In the late 1990s, she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet, first as Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from 2005 to 2009, then as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013, and finally as Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2019, the first woman to serve as German defence minister.[1] When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Angela Merkel's cabinet since Merkel became Chancellor. She has been deputy leader of the CDU since 2010, and has previously been regarded as a leading contender to succeed Merkel as Chancellor and as the favourite to become Secretary-General of NATO.
On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for the office of President of the European Commission.[2][3] She was elected by the European Parliament on 16 July.[4][nb 1] She is the first woman to become President of the European Commission.
Von der Leyen was born in 1958 in Ixelles, Brussels, where she lived until she was 13 years old. In the family she is known since childhood as Röschen, a diminutive of Rose.[6] Her father Ernst Albrecht worked as one of the first European civil servants from the establishment of the European Commission in 1958, first as the Chef de Cabinet to the European Commissioner for Competition Hans von der Groeben in the Hallstein Commission, and then as the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Competition from 1967 to 1970. She attended the European School, Brussels I.[7]
In 1971, she relocated to Lehrte in the Hanover region after her father had become CEO of the food company Bahlsen and involved in state politics in Lower Saxony.[8] Her father served as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony from 1976 to 1990
She was born and raised in Brussels, where her father Ernst Albrecht was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French, and is of German and British American descent. She moved to Hanover in 1971, when her father entered politics to become Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating as a physician from the Hanover Medical School in 1987, she specialized in women's health. In 1986 she married fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen of the noble von der Leyen family of silk merchants. As a mother of seven children, she was a housewife during parts of the 1990s and lived for four years in Stanford, California, while her husband was on faculty at Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.
In the late 1990s, she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet, first as Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from 2005 to 2009, then as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013, and finally as Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2019, the first woman to serve as German defence minister.[1] When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Angela Merkel's cabinet since Merkel became Chancellor. She has been deputy leader of the CDU since 2010, and has previously been regarded as a leading contender to succeed Merkel as Chancellor and as the favourite to become Secretary-General of NATO.
On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for the office of President of the European Commission.[2][3] She was elected by the European Parliament on 16 July.[4][nb 1] She is the first woman to become President of the European Commission.
Von der Leyen was born in 1958 in Ixelles, Brussels, where she lived until she was 13 years old. In the family she is known since childhood as Röschen, a diminutive of Rose.[6] Her father Ernst Albrecht worked as one of the first European civil servants from the establishment of the European Commission in 1958, first as the Chef de Cabinet to the European Commissioner for Competition Hans von der Groeben in the Hallstein Commission, and then as the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Competition from 1967 to 1970. She attended the European School, Brussels I.[7]
In 1971, she relocated to Lehrte in the Hanover region after her father had become CEO of the food company Bahlsen and involved in state politics in Lower Saxony.[8] Her father served as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony from 1976 to 1990
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